Seasonal Canning: Picklefest 2012!

Thanks to everyone who made it out to last month’s Picklefest editions of our seasonal canning workshops. We learned the ways of hot water bath canning, as well as making a plethora of different pickles. As always, it was great to hang out in the garden of the Compost Ed Centre at the end of a hot summer day to talk and make food together. It feels even better to leave an evening like that with some jars of pickled beets, zucchini dill pickles and pickled blueberries to line the walls of your pantry and make you feel all stocked up for winter. Click through for some recipes from the workshop as well as a round-up of tasty looking pickle recipes.

Simply Good Pickled Beets: Adapted from the Joy of Cooking (book). These are really tasty, really easy, and much less sweet than some pickled beets, which I’m into.

In a large non-reactive pot over medium heat, combine everything except beets (and onions, if using) to make a brine. Stir to dissolve salt, and bring to a boil.

Add beets (and onions, if using), and simmer for 5 minutes.

Carefully remove jars from hot water, and return the hot water bath to boil.

With a slotted spoon, fill each jar with beets (and onions, if using) to within an inch of top, then add brine, leaving ½ inch headspace. Can as above, in hot water bath for 30 minutes.

Pickled Blueberries: Adapted from Fancy Pantry (book).Lindsay says these are great on anything that you would put chutney on, and my internet research also suggests that they would be great with goat cheese (crackers optional), on sammiches, or with pickled herring (I’m dubious of this last claim, but give it a go if you’re feeling brave).